The last month in sports has been action-packed in every sense of the phrase, so let’s take a look back.
LOCAL SPORTS:
The Las Vegas Golden Knights played 15 games in the month of January, winning only six of them and losing the rest. The Knights won against the Flyers, the Sabres, the Sharks, the Wild, the Blues, and the Panthers.
NFL:
The 2025 Super Bowl LIX is set. The Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs will face off against each other in a high-stakes rematch on February 9th at the Caesars’ Superdome in New Orleans. The two teams previously faced off in Phoenix for the Super Bowl LVII in 2023 which the Chiefs won.
The Detroit Lions, who sat at the number one seed for the NFC, lost the NFC divisional round to the Washington Commanders in a brutal 31-45 loss. Detroit suffered from poor defense and an offense that couldn’t hold off Washington’s good defense. QB Jared Goff had five passes intercepted, with the worst leading to an immediate 50-yard touchdown for Washington.
The Commanders suffered an earth-shattering loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on that next Sunday. The Eagles took the lead early in the first quarter after a 60-yard running play to the end zone from RB Saquon Barkley. Despite Washington having possession of the ball for the majority of the first quarter, the Eagles took advantage of the six minutes they had and scored a second touchdown with three minutes remaining in the quarter. Washington scored their first touchdown late in the second quarter but missed their two-point attempt. The Commanders never took the lead of the game after their field goal in the first quarter and lost 23-55 in the end.
NBA:
The Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers completed one of the most revolutionary transfers in NBA history. Luka Doncic (#77/PG) was traded to the Lakers along with Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris for Anthony Davis and a 2029 first-round draft pick.
MOTORSPORTS:
In early January, Franco Colapinto was announced as a 2025 reserve and test driver for the Alpine F1 Team. Colapinto was a Williams Racing junior and F2 driver for MP Motorsport, but was brought in the late stages of the 2024 season to replace the struggling Logan Sargeant. Colapinto was unable to claim a full-time seat with any teams for this year but is now expected to replace Jack Doohan after his six-race contract is up.
Lewis Hamilton completed his first laps for Ferrari at their Pista di Fiorano test track on Wednesday the 22nd. Hamilton joined Ferrari this year after announcing that he would leave Mercedes after 13 years with the team to join the Italian-based squad this year. Hamilton completed around 30 laps around the track with thousands of fans standing outside the private session to try and get a view.
Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy, and Laurens Vanthoor won the Rolex 2025 24 Hours of Daytona for Porsche Penske Motorsport. The LMP2 class was found to be very hectic in its racing, with United Autosports’ LMP2 campaign coming to a crumbling halt not even 30 seconds after the green flag was waved, spinning on the exit of turn two. The first full course caution was also brought out due to an LMP2, the TDS Racing #11 of Hunter McElrea. The #8 Tower Motorsports LMP2 won by 44 seconds from second place but was later disqualified for excessive wear on the skid block. United Autosports’ second car inherited the win.
THIS MONTH:
Super Bowl 59 is on February 9th at 3:30 PM.
NASCAR makes its return with the 2025 Daytona 500 on the 16th.
Formula 1 holds its ‘F1 75’ launch event to begin the season and reveal all the teams’ 2025 cars. Pre-season testing will be held a week later.